Principals as Maverick Leaders

Rethinking Democratic Schools

By (author) Michael Chirichello, Sharron Goldman Walker

Publication date:

16 June 2011

Length of book:

266 pages

Publisher

R&L Education

Dimensions:

241x163mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781610483483

After her school wins the coveted United States National Secondary Education Award, a school principal embarks upon an educational odyssey. The principal discovers that the reasons for winning the award are a sham! As her school falls apart, she begins to reflect on the stagnant school organization and the ineffective prescriptions for improvement. She wonders why as a democratic nation, American schools do not model the practice of democracy for students. The principal begins her quest to unearth the flaws in her own thinking about the way schools work in her quest to create more democratic schools. Endeavoring to understand how systems really work, the principal puts her new ideas into practice and shares with the reader the lessons learned from past practices. This book presents a guide for principals in the form of rules that suggest that educational leaders must ask themselves why they do what they do. It also takes readers through a series of vignettes focused on how principals can practice democracy in the schoolhouse, while challenging themselves and their school community.

Part 1 Part One-The Principal as Classical Mechanic
Chapter 2 Rule 1Ask Yourself Why Society Schools Children
Chapter 3 Rule 2Flush Out Your Theory of Organization
Chapter 4 Rule 3 Probe the Mechanical Universe
Chapter 5 Rule 4 Examine How You Know What You Know
Chapter 6 Rule 5Modify the Theory of the Mechanical Universe
Chapter 7 Rule 6Know Thyself
Chapter 8 Rule 7Understand the Ontology of Control
Chapter 9 Rule 8Never Accept the Convenience of Control
Chapter 10 Rule 9Know the Difference between Parts and Wholes
Chapter 11 Rule 10 Observe the Interactions of People, Data, Systems, and Theory
Part 12 Part Two
Chapter 13 Taking the Quantum Leap
Chapter 14 Vignette OneLessons Learned: Drive Fear from the Workplace
Chapter 15 Vignette TwoLessons Learned: Conversation Leads to Dialogue
Chapter 16 Vignette ThreeLessons Learned: Build Culture through Shared Beliefs
Chapter 17 Vignette FourLessons Learned: Listen to the Shareholders
Chapter 18 Vignette FiveLessons Learned: It's All about the Whole Thing
Chapter 19 Vignette SixLessons Learned: The Yin in the Yang
Chapter 20 Vignette SevenLessons Learned: Unbundling Structures to Fit Students
Chapter 21 Vignette EightLessons Learned : Understand Interactions: People, Data, Systems, and Theory
Chapter 22 Vignette NineLessons Learned: Use Data to Uncover Deep Seeded Dilemmas
Chapter 23 Vignette TenLessons Learned: Sketch a Human Face Over the Data
Chapter 24 Vignette ElevenLessons Learned: Transform Possibilities into Actualities
Chapter 25 Vignette TwelveLessons Learned: Get Buy-In from the Shareholders
Chapter 26 Vignette ThirteenLessons Learned: The Collective Approach Triggers Success
Chapter 27 Vignette FourteenLessons Learned: The Flaw in Every Plan
Chapter 28

A provocative guide to leading school change and to transforming schools into democratic learning communities.